Phase equilibria in ternary mixtures of methyl oleate, glicerol and methanol

ALFONSINA ANDREATTA; LIDIA M. CASÁS; PABLO HEGEL; SUSANA B. BOTTINI; ESTEBAN .A. BRIGNOLE

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

American Chemical Society

Año: 2008 vol. 47 p. 5157 - 5164

0888-5885

Transesterification reactions are common in the production of some important chemicals, such as biodiesel and mono- and di-glycerides. Knowledge on the phase equilibrium conditions of the reactive mixture is essential to explore possible operating conditions for the reactor and the down-stream separation process. In this work, liquid-liquid and vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium data have been measured for the ternary system methyl oleate-methanol-glycerol, at temperatures between 313 and 393 K. The group contribution with association GCA-EOS equation of state and the A-UNIFAC model were applied to represent the phase equilibria of this ternary system. Self-association in glycerol and methanol and cross-association with methyl-esters were taken into account.